Chapter 11

JPOV

Packing with Rena is a hassle. She always takes way too much. I'm finished in about ten minutes with just enough clothes for about a week since my parents obviously have a washing machine, but Rena is packing clothes for a every single day we're there and then some. Of course we got her camera and the presents all packed and in the living room real quick. It took about half an hour to get her to trim down on her clothes and shoes and now we're arguing about what dress she should wear to the party my parents throw every year. I personally think she should wear her red one, I mean red is a Christmas color, but she seems to think it's a bit too revealing. Which it isn't. I mean it is, but not really. She wants to wear a black one that does look really pretty on her, but it's not exactly cheery.

I sigh for the millionth time as I lay down on her bed, my feet dangling over the edge. "Would you please just pack the red one so we can leave?"

She holds the dress up to herself in the mirror. "Are you sure it isn't too low cut?"

"Rena… I don't want you to take this the wrong way." I sit up a bit so I'm leaning on my elbows. "All dresses are low cut on you. Have you seen your boobs?"

She groans. This used to be a constant complaint when we were dating. She hated their size and talked about getting a reduction, but honestly I think she just wanted me to tell her I liked them the way they are.

"Maybe I'll just bring both…" She hangs the red dress back up with a sigh. "I don't know."

"Just bring both of them!" I know that I'd been petitioning for smaller luggage, but one dress won't really make a difference. "We were supposed to leave an hour ago," I pout. I mean we didn't really have to be since it's only 11am at the moment, but I wanted to see my family before we have decorate for tomorrow.

She folds them both up and puts them in her bag. "Maybe I'll buy a new one."

"Oh Merlin," I groan again. I think I'm going to add this to the list of reasons why I left. She can't pack and she's indecisive. The indecisive can be cute sometimes, but not when we're in a hurry. "Do you have time to buy another one?"

"Yes, of course! I'll just drop you and the luggage off at your parents' and then I'll pop out for an hour."

I hesitate for a second. "So… so I don't have to go?" This can't be right. She hated dress shopping alone.

She shrugs. "I mean, I'd like you to come, but you seem to need to get to your family like right now so," she shrugs again before sliding on her shoes and taking her bags to the living room.

"Oh don't do this!" I follow her out to living room. "Serena I can come if you want, but don't guilt me into it."

She drops the bags and looks up at me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

I sigh at the sad look on her face. "It's okay I know you didn't mean to." I grab her wrist and pull her against me. I wrap my arms around her and rest my cheek against the top of her head as her arms wind around my waist. Ever since the roof she's been a bit more willing to have physical contact with me, but she's still a bit closed off. She snaps at me more than she used to, but I'll take what I can get.

After a few moments she pulls back. "We better get our stuff to your parents."

The original plan was to stay at Grandma Molly's, but this morning we got a letter that realized we really just couldn't fit anymore and that we were staying at my parents instead. It's a bit late if you ask me, but the more I think about it the less surprised I am.

Rena picks up as many bags as she can and I take the rest. We agree to apparate into my room that way they won't notice us leaving again. When we get into my room I find it a bit different from when I left. As I walk around and look at the new additions on the wall Rena waves her wand and our clothes and belongings go flying about the room and my bathroom, putting everything in it's place. As I watch our clothes fly around I realize she unpacked both of our clothes. She must have realized (even though I told her multiple times this morning) that we'd have to share this room in order for everyone to fit. We aren't the only ones. The obvious couples are sharing, but so are various cousins. Of course they won't have to share beds like we do, but the rule is always at least two people to a room. It really should be three or four, but we always make it work.

Once she's done we're off to find her a new dress.

Rena lied. It took like two hours to find her a dress so when we finally got the dress upstairs in the closet and the two of us down to the living room the last guests had arrived about an hour and a half before we did and when I tried to explain that she just had to get a new dress my cousins didn't really seem to believe the story like my parents and aunts and uncles did.

"We all know what you two were doing," says Fred as soon as the gang, Al, Lily and Rose were out of earshot of my parents.

Lou's parents had ahold of Lia at the moment so Katherine and Louis were free to talk for awhile. We were all sitting around the kitchen counter munching on Grandma Molly's cookies while Katherine and Fred ganged up on us.

"Rena hates buying dresses," Kat argues. "We all know it and she hates wearing them. You couldn't possibly have been dress shopping that long."

She has a point. I guess Rena still isn't fond of them because I've heard a few stories since I've been back about dresses mysteriously disappearing before she has to wear them.

"I swear we were dress shopping," she protests. "I have the dress right upstairs!"

"Along with two others," I point out, taking another bite of my cookie. "She's still indecisive. I found out this morning when she spent three hours packing."

"I just like to be prepared!" She argues. She looks a bit put out at all of us poking fun at her. I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer on the stool we were sharing. (We had widened a few since there wasn't enough for all of us).

"It's okay Rena, I forgive you." I kiss her temple and hold out a cookie for her. She takes it with a glare, but doesn't say anything about it.

I can feel everyone's eyes on us and it's making me a tad uncomfortable. I guess for once she didn't tell them every single thing that happened between us. Not that anything really had… yet. But we are getting pretty close to being best friends again and that's at least one step closer.

She leans into my side as she munches on her cookie, apparently oblivious to our friends and family's stares.

Katherine clears her throat. "So has anything else er, happened yet?" she asks awkwardly. I can tell that everyone's interested and I hate to disappoint, but besides occasionally sharing a bed or a hug nothing had happened since the last time she ran off to them.

I say as much, but none of them seem to believe me especially since Rena had decided not to answer.

When she does speak however there had been quite a bit of silence, but I don't think she really noticed. Or she just didn't care. "Nothing's going on with me and James," she answers as she reaches forward to grab a cookie. "We're just friends." Which I'm not going to lie was the best thing I've heard in awhile even if it's not the same as her being my girlfriend. "Really good friends," she turns and smiles at me. "Again." She adds on as an after thought before ruffling my hair.

I give her a small smile back even though I'm tempted to smack her hand away from my hair. She doesn't seem to notice that when she turns forward again I immediately move my hand to fix it.

Thankfully the others decide to drop the topic for the time being and they launch into a conversation about who they think will turn up to the party tomorrow and who will get caught under the mistletoe. I don't really talk much I just munch on the food that's on the counter as I listen. Of course once they get into the mistletoe stories they're never ending. Eventually they convince Albus and Rena to tell the story of how they got caught under the mistletoe, but neither seems particularly excited about it.

"It's not even that exciting," insists Albus. "We were walking back from the kitchen with our drinks and we got stuck under the one in the hall near the sitting room."

"Then once we spent a few minutes arguing about whether or not we could get out of it, we kissed and went back to the party," shrugs Rena. She rests her elbows on the counter and places her chin in her hands.

"How was it though? Was it life changing?" teases Katherine.

"It was a just a peck!" says Albus, his eyes flitting over to me. I raise my eyebrows at him and his face turns pink as he turns away.

"Well if it was Rena's first kiss was it yours too Al?" asks Lily curiously.

He just nods, not looking up from the table.

" Aw that's really adorable," says Lily.

"Adorable?" I ask, trying to remain calm as I give Lily a look.

"Yes," she says, not flinching beneath my gaze. "They were good friends and still are. In my opinion it probably turned out to be a happier memory than some people's first kisses."

I huff not bothering to reply since she's right. I don't much fancy ever talking about the person I shared my first kiss with so I guess it is a bit of an accomplishment for Al and Rena to still be so close. Not that they dated so I guess it's a bit different.

Rena hastily changes the subject to quidditch and Albus and Fred instantly launch into an argument about who's going to go to the world cup this year, but of course in the end we all want Puddlemere to win since Rena is on the team after all. Rena makes comments every once in awhile when they ask her about how the team's stats are looking, but other than that she just listens quietly, taking in their knowledge of the other teams.

"Do you want to get out of here?" I whisper in Rena's ear as I wrap my arm around her waist. It's almost midnight and we're all sitting in the living room. The parents are talking about what they have to do after presents tomorrow and the younger generation is having an exploding snap contest on the other side of the room. Louis and Kat were upstairs putting Lia to bed and Teddy, Victoire and the twins had already gone to bed hours earlier. I suspect that Katherine would've put Lia to bed earlier, but she took a rather long nap and they couldn't get her to sleep when they tried a few hours ago.

"Please?" she asks, letting out a small yawn.

I stand up and hold out my hands to her and she grabs them quickly, letting me pull her up from the floor. We walk quickly from the room, not bothering to interrupt the competition just to say we're leaving. Once we reach the top of the stairs, Rena leans against me as she yawns again. I wrap my arm around her and guide her to my old room. Once inside she immediately flops onto the bed as I close the door. I go sit next to her and rub her back.

"You should change before you fall asleep, silly. I think sleeping in those jeans will be a bit uncomfortable."

She mutters something unintelligible as I stand up and pull her sweat pants and t-shirt from the drawer. I toss them on the bed and pull out my own clothes. I slide on a pair of shorts and change out my sweater for a t-shirt before padding into the bathroom. I brush my teeth and when I come out I'm pleased to see Rena in her pjs, putting her clothes on top of the set of drawers. I ruffle her hair as she walks past me and into the bathroom.

Once the door to the bathroom closes I fling myself onto the bed. I set my wand and glasses on the bedside table before crawling under the covers. I curl up and close my eyes, waiting for Rena to come back and shut off the lights. I sit quietly as I wait for her to come out. I quickly run over the events of the day in my mind, remembering how nice it felt to see my family this afternoon. However it did not feel that nice hearing about Al and Rena, we only talked about it briefly, but it still didn't feel good. Knowing my brother was the first person to kiss my girlfriend, I mean.. Rena. Gives me a really weird feeling. However it was back in her fourth year and his third so I know it didn't mean much anymore and I doubt it did then. It was still weird to think about though. I quickly turn my thoughts back to what Rena had said before that. How we were really good friends. Now that I was thinking about I couldn't tell if it was a step in the right direction or if I had just been friend zoned. I'm not particularly upset about it, but I ponder about it for awhile and I don't notice Rena come out of the bathroom until its suddenly dark. Almost immediately after the lights go off Rena jumps onto the bed, nearly crushing me in the process.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, sliding under the covers.

I smile and wrap my arms around her, pulling her against my chest. "It's okay."

She rests her head on my chest, her left arm wrapped tightly around my waist. I slide my left hand through her hair and rest my other hand over hers. "Sleepy?" I ask.

"Mhm," she mumbles. She moves her left leg slowly and rests it over mine.

I squeeze her hand and close my eyes again. I'm starting to fall asleep when she speaks.

"James?" she asks quietly, I thought I imagined it, but I could feel her tilt her head up towards mine.

"Hm?" I open my eyes a bit and see her looking up at me thoughtfully. "What is it?"

She watches me for a few moments before answering. "Do you… do you still have feelings for me?"

I stare at her for a moment utterly confused. I thought I had made it pretty clear that I did, but obviously not as clear as I thought if she was asking. "Yes…" I say slowly, wondering where she was headed with this.

She nods. She's quiet for a few moments before she speaks again. "And… you want to be with me?"

Now I'm even more confused. What was she getting at? It was just weeks ago when she wanted to take things slow and now I feel like she's changed her mind. "Of course I do, but Rena I thought I made that all clear when we talked about it last?" I ask. "You said you wanted to take it slow?" It comes out more of a question than a statement like I meant it too.

"I do I just…" she takes a deep breath. "I'm just trying to figure things out," she says quietly.

I wait for her to say something else, but she doesn't so I do. "Do you still have feelings for me?" I've wanted to ask her this for awhile, but for some reason laying here in the dark right now made it easier.

It takes her awhile to answer. So long that I start to think she didn't hear me. I'm about to ask her again when she says, "I think… that I might."

I bite my lip. I'm not sure what to say. So I just ask her the other question she asked me. "Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes," she answers quickly. No hesitation was in her voice at all. Which makes it more confusing.

"Then why won't you just be with me?" I ask with a huff.

"It's more complicated than that," she replies, moving her head back to rest on my chest.

"No it's not," I say back, starting to get frustrated. "If you like me than what's the problem? You're constantly touching me and teasing me and joking around with me and I just don't understand." I groan and push her off of me before I turn my body to face her. "You're making this all way more confusing than it needs to be and I'm sick of it."

"I'm sorry," she whispers, looking hurt. "I just need a bit longer."

"Take all the time you need, but I can't promise I'll be around by then," I roll over and face the door, not wanting to see her face. Of course I'll be around. I'll always be around. I groan to myself as I pull up the covers. I feel her turn the other way after a few moments, a small sound escaping her lips. I know she's crying, but I also know she won't let me comfort her after what I said so I just close my eyes and hope she can forgive me.